If you want something to get you ready to focus on the Eternal on a Sunday morning, these recent recording of not only Faure’s Requiem, but also his Messe basse, could do just the job. Stephen Cleobury conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (!), Douglas Tang-Tom Etheridge/org and The Choir of King’s College along with Gerald Finley/bar, Tom Pickard/treb take on the ethereal Requiem as well as the deeply evocative Messe Basse.
Similar in some ways to Mozart’s piece, this version has a passionately deep “Offertoire” , and when he sings (in Latin) “Deliver Me” it has the voice of faith. The glorious choir is loft and angelic, especially when it coalesces with the organ on “Sanctus”and as with all great pieces, make you think of the eternal. The famous “Pie Jesu”, covered by artists in the jazz field his here it’s original environmnet with wondrous voice by Tom Pickard. The Messe Basse has Joshua Curtis and Adam Banwell providing treble voices to the “Kyrie” and “Benedictus,” respectively, and for those of you who have not grown up in the church, asking God for mercy is not exactly the worst way to start a day. As CS Lewis once wrote, “Anything not eternally focused is ultimately eternally obsolete.” Here’s something with the right perspective.